"Abusive Sex Rituals"

The defunct "Renaissance" winery and vineyards, monument to the blood, sweat, and tears

of thousands of followers squandered through Robert Burton's bad behavior.

"diegoriverassquaretrouserleg" wrote on the Fellowship of Friends Discussion blog, July 30, 2022:

Sun newspaper today from the U.k., a Murdoch Tabloid
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/19367843/google-cult-leader-robert-earl-burton-warning/

 
[ed. - Partial content of the tabloid's article follows.]

'ABUSIVE SEX RITUALS'

‘Google cult leader who tried to bed 100 male followers in a DAY gives chilling warning to betrayers,’ member claims

The Sun
by Katy Forrester
Oregon House, CA

July 29, 2022

The leader of a California 'cult' which has landed Google in a lawsuit is abusive and has given a chilling warning to those who want to leave, a current follower has claimed.

Former Google video producer Kevin Lloyd is suing after alleging the tech giant's studio in Mountain View, California was made up mostly of members of The Fellowship of Friends.

The controversial religious sect, led by Robert Earl Burton, has its headquarters based in Oregon House, a small town deep in the Sierra foothills, around 200 miles away from the Google studio.

Lloyd alleges in his lawsuit he was fired after complaining about the department's link to the Fellowship and its bizarre practices, including Burton's rumored 'love fests' where he tried to bed 100 male followers in a day.

News of his firing came after a bombshell Spotify podcast, Revelations, hosted by investigative journalist Jennings Brown, who spoke to men claiming they were sexually exploited.

The Fellowship, also known as Living Presence and the Fourth Way School, was founded by Burton in 1970, who previously settled a sexual abuse lawsuit in the 1990s.

 A current member of the group has now bravely decided to break ranks to speak to The Sun about the allegations the leader has faced over the years, while he has never been criminally charged.

The woman, who wants to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, said she believes the many survivors who gave harrowing accounts of alleged abuse in the podcast.

The Fellowship of Friends, which has around 1,500 members worldwide, is still active and run by Burton, 83, who lives at the headquarters in northern California.

Asked how she feels to hear about the latest claims featured in the podcast, the member told The Sun: "It's horrible. It bothers me, it's always bothered me. It should be called out."

She added: "Nobody that's in the group is supposed to talk to you."

The member, who said she rejoined years after leaving as her late husband and friends were still followers, said Burton should be removed, saying: "I do think it would be wonderful for the health of the community."

Asked if she feels the Fellowship is a cult, she admitted: "It's absolutely a cult. It meets all the criteria, it's leader centric, and you're punished if you leave."

Quizzed on what members are told will happen, she cackled: "Oh, you are going to the outer reaches of hell!"

She added that when someone starts "exerting their spiritual authority," the choices are to speak out against what's happening within the group or leave.

"But for many people it's like, this is their social life, this is their spiritual life, this is their family, you know, it's a lot to walk away from," she admitted.

"These are not made up stories and I'd say, 'Why doesn't it bother you?' They [the other members] just put it back on me; 'Why does it bother you?'

"The tricky part about this is that there's some really powerful, important ideas that underpin the Fellowship, that are overlaid with a lot of personal, cultish ideas, proposed by Robert Burton.

"He is a very, very flawed human being, he carved out something that worked for him."

In the podcast, Brown says he spoke to seven men who claim Burton sexually exploited them, two of which also alleged they participated in the rumored sex ritual where he attempted to sleep with 100 of his male students in one day. [ed. - See "Robert Burton's Valentine's Day Gift"]

They also claimed the Fellowship helped them obtain religious visas.

"The Fellowship of Friends – Art, Beauty, and Abuse"

[ed. - From the Cultery Nonsense YouTube channel]

"Associated Press" wrote on the Fellowship of Friends Discussion blog, July 27, 2022:

The Fellowship of Friends – Art, Beauty, and Abuse

1,530 views Oct 21, 2021

"Associated Press" wrote on the Fellowship of Friends Discussion blog, July 27, 2022:

Cult Wine Tasting & Fellowship of Friends Updates

431 views Dec 3, 2021

Sharon Gans and The Odyssey Study Group

[ed. - With husband Alex Horn, Sharon Gans Horn operated the "Theatre of All Possibilities" in San Francisco until they were "forced" to flee, ending up in New York City. Sharon Gans died on January 22, 2021.]

Odyssey Study Group cult still going strong after death of charismatic leader Sharon Gans 

By Isabel Vincent

July 9, 2022

Sharon Gans Horn and her husband, Alex, started the Odyssey Sudy Group in San Francisco in the 1970s, later moving it to NYC where the "cult" allegedly preyed on the powerful and wealthy.

NY Post photo composite

The charismatic leader of a cult that recruited Manhattan’s wealthy and powerful may have died last year, but her notorious movement is still thriving.

The Odyssey Study Group, also known as The Work and A Fourth Way School, has long been accused of sexual and child abuse as well as siphoning cash from its members to pay for its leaders’ extravagant lifestyles in Manhattan, Boston, the Hamptons and Mexico.

OSG, which was registered as a for-profit company in 2001, currently has more than 200 members on the East Coast, a cult expert and former member both told The Post.

“It’s a very bizarre kind of group because they are generally wealthy and highly educated Harvard, Yale and Wharton types,” said Rick Alan Ross, author of the 2014 book “Cults Inside out: How People Get in and Can Get Out” and executive director of Cult Education Institute, which has studied the group since 2001.

“When people say that people in New York City are much too smart to get involved in a cult, it just means that the cult is very sophisticated and slick,” Ross said, adding that OSG’s survival has a lot to do with its cash flow.

Under former leader Sharon Gans Horn — who died from COVID complications in January 2021 at the age of 85 — the group was generating more than $1.2 million a year, just in member dues paid in cash, said Ross.

"Mihai Algiu explains how to recognize a cult"

Mihai Algiu, Psychotherapist

[ed. - This is the first in a series of six videos featuring Mihai Algiu, a former Fellowship of Friends member of Robert Burton's inner circle. It appears Algiu has now cobbled together his own guruship.

 

According to a source in the community, "While Mihai was deep in the Galleria inner circles, he enjoyed all the perks: free everything (meals, concerts, etc.), power, fleet of Galleria vehicles, expensive clothes, adoration, unlimited sex. To his credit, he discovered someone other than Burton, while still a member and in his 'role.' That was David Hawkins, who resided in Sedona, AZ. Mihai and others were reading Hawkins, and at some point took the opportunity to travel as a group to Sedona for some teaching/'satsang' event. Robert found out and immediately gave them all the usual ultimatum: choose your teacher; you can’t have both. Mihai chose to leave Robert."

 

(Algiu became "famous" for certain Galleria activities which he and Dorian Matei are reported to have arranged.)]

 

 

 

 

"diegoriverassquaretrouserleg" wrote in the Fellowship of Friends Discussion blog, July 10, 2022:

Mihai explains Burton’s sick seduction routine. Burton is a Douchebag number 8 who has been refining and perfecting his game of molestation and rape for 50 years. He gets a lot of help from his enablers, procurers and procuresses.

 

 

 

"Magdalena" wrote on the Fellowship of Friends Discussion blog, October 14, 2022:

Mihai was deep in the FOF culture of crime. He was one of the first rank enablers who took their slice of the pie. He abused the trust of the the general membership just as Burton did. He enjoyed the power, life style, money and sex that came with the position he carved out for himself. I don’t think it is OK and that because he moved on he is absolved. He has committed terrible crimes against that part of members that was genuine and seeking for wholeness. So now he is some woke guy in Grass Valley using his charisma to make a living as a therapist. There are plenty of others who fall into that category – the vainglorious and greedy, the corrupt and the opportunistic. Burton could never have done what he did without their complicity. To a significant extent Burton is the product of these people’s connivance. They are criminals.